第4部分：閱讀理解（第31~45題，每題3分，共45分）
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道題，每道題后面有4個選項。請根據(jù)文章的內(nèi)容，從每題所給的4個選項中選擇個答案，涂在答題卡相應的位置上。
第一篇 “Salty” Rice Plant Boosts Harvests
British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more.
Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University’s School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty.
The pair have recently begun a three-year programme， funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council， to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops， starting with rice.
It is estimated that each year more than 10m hectares（公頃） of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts（妨礙生長）plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics， mangroves（紅樹林） that create swamps（沼澤） and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean， a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop， allowing sea water to seep（滲透）in. in Latin America， irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated（蒸發(fā)） by the heat， leaving salt deposits behind.
Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.
To overcome these problems， Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little slat and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants‘ growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop， but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.
Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known， Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again， providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.
31 Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true？
A They are students at Sussex University.
B They are rice breeders.
C They are husband and wife.
D They are colleagues at an institution of higher learning.
32 Flowers and Yeo have started a programme
A to find ways to prevent water pollution.
B to identify genes that promote growth in salty soil.
C to breed rice plants that taste salty.
D to find ways to remove excessive salt from soil.
33 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage？
A Natural barriers to sea water have been destroyed.
B the water table has gone down after droughts.
C Sea level has been continuously rising.
D Evaporation of water leaves salt behind
34 The word “affect” in Paragraph 6 could be best replaced by
A “influence”
B “effect”
C “stop”
D “present”
35 The attitude of the author towards the research project is
A positive
B negative.
C suspicious
D indifferent.
第二篇 Ford’s Assembly Line
When it comes to singling out those who have made a difference in all our lives， you cannot overlook Henry Ford. A historian a century from now might well conclude that it was Ford who most influenced all manufacturing， everywhere， even to this day， by introducing a new way to make cars-one， strange to say， that originated in slaughterhouses（屠宰場）。
Back in the early 1900‘s， slaughterhouses used what could have been called a “disassembly line”。 Ford reversed this process to see if it would speed up production of a part of an automobile engine called a magneto. Rather than have each worker completely assemble a magneto， one of its elements was placed on a conveyer， and each worker， as it passed， added another component to it， the same one each time. Professor David Hounshell of the University of Delaware， an expert on industrial development， tells what happened.
“The previous day， workers carrying out the entire process had averaged one assembly every 20 minutes. But on that day， on the line， the assemble team averaged one every 13 minutes and 10 seconds per person.”
Within a year， the time had been reduced to five minutes. In 1913， Ford went all the way. Hooked together by ropes， partially assembled vehicles were towed（拖，拉） past workers who completed them one piece at a time. It hasn‘t long before Ford was turning out several hundred thousand cars a year， a remarkable achievement then. And so efficient and economical was this new system that he cut the price of his cars in half， to $260， putting them within reach of all those who， up until that time， could not afford them. Soon， auto makers the world over copied him. In fact， he encouraged them to do so by writing a book about all of his innovations， entitled Today and Tomorrow. The Age of the Automobile has arrived. Today， aided by robots and other forms of automation（自動化）， everything from toasters to perfumes is made on assembly lines.
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道題，每道題后面有4個選項。請根據(jù)文章的內(nèi)容，從每題所給的4個選項中選擇個答案，涂在答題卡相應的位置上。
第一篇 “Salty” Rice Plant Boosts Harvests
British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more.
Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University’s School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty.
The pair have recently begun a three-year programme， funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council， to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops， starting with rice.
It is estimated that each year more than 10m hectares（公頃） of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts（妨礙生長）plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics， mangroves（紅樹林） that create swamps（沼澤） and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean， a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop， allowing sea water to seep（滲透）in. in Latin America， irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated（蒸發(fā)） by the heat， leaving salt deposits behind.
Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.
To overcome these problems， Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little slat and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants‘ growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop， but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.
Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known， Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again， providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.
31 Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true？
A They are students at Sussex University.
B They are rice breeders.
C They are husband and wife.
D They are colleagues at an institution of higher learning.
32 Flowers and Yeo have started a programme
A to find ways to prevent water pollution.
B to identify genes that promote growth in salty soil.
C to breed rice plants that taste salty.
D to find ways to remove excessive salt from soil.
33 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage？
A Natural barriers to sea water have been destroyed.
B the water table has gone down after droughts.
C Sea level has been continuously rising.
D Evaporation of water leaves salt behind
34 The word “affect” in Paragraph 6 could be best replaced by
A “influence”
B “effect”
C “stop”
D “present”
35 The attitude of the author towards the research project is
A positive
B negative.
C suspicious
D indifferent.
第二篇 Ford’s Assembly Line
When it comes to singling out those who have made a difference in all our lives， you cannot overlook Henry Ford. A historian a century from now might well conclude that it was Ford who most influenced all manufacturing， everywhere， even to this day， by introducing a new way to make cars-one， strange to say， that originated in slaughterhouses（屠宰場）。
Back in the early 1900‘s， slaughterhouses used what could have been called a “disassembly line”。 Ford reversed this process to see if it would speed up production of a part of an automobile engine called a magneto. Rather than have each worker completely assemble a magneto， one of its elements was placed on a conveyer， and each worker， as it passed， added another component to it， the same one each time. Professor David Hounshell of the University of Delaware， an expert on industrial development， tells what happened.
“The previous day， workers carrying out the entire process had averaged one assembly every 20 minutes. But on that day， on the line， the assemble team averaged one every 13 minutes and 10 seconds per person.”
Within a year， the time had been reduced to five minutes. In 1913， Ford went all the way. Hooked together by ropes， partially assembled vehicles were towed（拖，拉） past workers who completed them one piece at a time. It hasn‘t long before Ford was turning out several hundred thousand cars a year， a remarkable achievement then. And so efficient and economical was this new system that he cut the price of his cars in half， to $260， putting them within reach of all those who， up until that time， could not afford them. Soon， auto makers the world over copied him. In fact， he encouraged them to do so by writing a book about all of his innovations， entitled Today and Tomorrow. The Age of the Automobile has arrived. Today， aided by robots and other forms of automation（自動化）， everything from toasters to perfumes is made on assembly lines.